Life Science Collection

Overview

This lesson focuses on adaptations as a driving force in evolutionary diversity. Adaptations are characteristics within a species that enhance its chances of survival and reproduction. Adaptations can be behavioral, structural, or functional. Students must understand that these adaptations are not acquired in the course of the organism’s lifetime, but are inherited traits that have been passed down

The attached PDF contains 5 different lessons and lab activities for high school earth science, environmental science and biology classes. The focus is on permafrost and related topics including the earth’s carbon cycle, the greenhouse effect, climate change, and aqueous geochemistry. The diagrams and photographs included in this manual, along with additional visual materials, are included in the attached Thawing

Televicentro de Puerto Rico (WAPA-TV channel 4) live television interview with Alba Nydia Díaz and Armando Caussade. This resource is in Spanish.

Overview

PolarTREC teacher Andrea Skloss’ lesson was inspired by her Chukchi Sea Ecosystem Study aboard the USCGC Healy. In order to understand why this area is a biological hot spot of productivity, scientists must study components such as the trophic levels and more.

Objectives

In organisms and environments, the student knows that interdependence occurs among living systems and the environment

Overview

In this set of lessons, students have the opportunity to think like scientists as they examine actual data related to Arctic ground squirrels, organize it in logical ways, and make inferences based on the data.

Objectives

• Students will develop an understanding of some of the ways scientists use and organize data.
• Students will organize data

This PowerPoint presentation could be used as part of an introductory or supplementary unit on Antarctica. The presentation includes stunning visuals and general facts about Antarctica.

Jeanine Gelhaus <gelhaje [at] medford.k12.wi.us> Capstone Project Fall 2013. Integrated Life and Earth Sciences in the Polar Regions.

Overview

Students create a life size model of a bowhead whale based on information they have collected.

Objective

Students will be able to organize specific technical information from a variety of resources to develop a "blue print" or pattern to create a life size model of a bowhead whale.

Procedure

Introduction to project, student research on whale

Overview

Students complete a physical puzzle based on a scientific poster about Bowhead Whales. Students then research the content of the poster and present their findings.

Objective

To familiarize students with: * the scientific method * real polar scientific posters * real polar scientific research * real polar scientific terminology * real polar scientific technology * real polar

Overview

This lesson was written for a Photography I course, to be taught in a lab with access to either a darkroom or computers/printers. The class has already spent ample time getting used to the basics of photography, learning to use their cameras as a creative tool, just as a painter might use a brush. This lesson could easily

Overview

In this introductory lesson, students read an article about Arctic Ocean ecosystems and then play a board game in which they take on the role of researchers.

Objectives

The purpose of this introductory activity is to: * Identify the main components of complex arctic ecosystem and describe predator/prey relationships between phytoplankton, ice algae, zooplankton, bowhead whales, polar

Overview

Students are designated as the water or ocean currents, zooplankton, and bowhead whales. The zooplankton are informed that they are at the mercy of the currents. The currents are given instructions as to where to go during different times of the year (map). The whale pod is told that they need to breathe (raise hands above head to indicate

Overview

Antarctica is the coldest, driest place on Earth with a fairly limited number of native species which have adapted to these extreme conditions over millions of years. As a result, it's not very likely that a non-native species would survive there . . . right? Actually ever since exploration and exploitation of the Antarctic region began in the 1800's

Researcher Egbert Schwartz and PolarTREC teacher Justin Kendhammer will travel to the Dry Valleys of Antarctica in search of life in the seemingly barren soil. One of the questions they will attempt to answer is whether microbes in the soil are native to Antarctic soil or whether they have been blown onto the continent from elsewhere in the world.

PolarTREC alumni Alex Eilers created this mini-exhibit about Antarctica for the Pink Palace Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. The exhibit highlights a variety of topics as well as Ms. Eilers personal experiences in Antarctica. Topics explored include: dressing for the cold Antarctic climate, research on the Weddell seal, the history of human exploration in Antarctica, and extreme facts about the coldest

This one hour webinar with PolarTREC teacher Lisa Seff shares ideas and experiences on bringing polar science into your classroom and community. Her work focuses on the oceanographic conditions of bowhead whale habitat.

This one hour webinar is designed for educators as polar professional development. Dr. Okkonen details his work on the project studying bowhead whales and oceanographic conditions in their environment.

Overview

We want students to develop the habits, traits, and qualities of effective scientists. What better way for them to learn what these traits are than by hearing from actual scientists? In this lesson, students watch video interviews with four Arctic scientists from the University of Alaska, notice what types of work scientists do on a daily basis, and make

Satellite observations of circulation features associated with a bowhead whale feeding ‘hotspot’ near Barrow, Alaska. Remote Sensing of Environment. 115:2168-2174
Okkonen, S.R., C. Ashjian, R.G. Campbell, J.T. Clarke, S.E. Moore, and K.D. Taylor. 2011.

Alaska Marine Mammal Stock Assessments, 2012

This blog documents the process of creating a 25-minute animated film at the University of Alaska Museum of the North that tells the story of bowhead whale annual migration in the Bering, Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. The film takes its basic narrative and title from the 2013 calendar edited by Steve Okkonen, A Year in the Life of Bowhead Whales

The life of the bowhead whales calendar is a teaching tool created by Dr. Steve Okkonen and colleagues to portray science and natural history of bowhead whales in a compelling form. The calendar is available as a PDF and in poster PDF forms.

Port Aransas teachers set off to study ecosystems in the Arctic...one in the Chukchi Sea and the other at Kaktovic.

The Center for Microbial Oceanography offers resources on education and outreach for K-12 teachers, undergraduates, grads & post-docs and related links. This is a great tool for lesson planning. In addition to outreach ideas, C-MORE offers kits for review and request.

• Plankton Science Kit
• Ocean Conveyor Belt Science Kit

One of the simplest biological samplers, zooplankton nets are made in a wide variety of styles and sizes. The two nets in the MARMAP Bongo vertical-haul net system explained here each have a mouth diameter of about 25 cm.

What is it and why do we use it? An Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler, or Acoustic Doppler Profiler, is often referred to with the acronym ADCP. Scientists use the instrument to measure how fast water is moving across an entire water column. An ADCP anchored to the seafloor can measure current speed not just at the bottom, but also at

This short video from national geographic introduces viewers to the biology of a bowhead whale.